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3-Newcomer
Oct 12, 2026 5:18 AM UTC
Question

How to Extract a Specific Value from an OPC UA String Tag in KEPServerEX 6.18 Using Advanced Tags

Dear PTC Technical Support Team,

I am using PTC Kepware KEPServerEX version 6.18 and have the Advanced Tags plug-in installed.

I have connected a machine through its OPC UA server and am receiving a tag with the String data type. The string contains multiple fields separated by a pipe (|) delimiter.

Example input string:

123|Temperature|25.6|°C

The string format is:

ID|Name|Value|Unit

I need to extract only the third field (25.6) and make it available as a separate tag in KEPServerEX. The source string updates continuously, so the extracted value must update automatically whenever the source tag changes.

My questions are:

  1. Does KEPServerEX 6.18 support extracting a specific field from a String tag using the built-in Advanced Tags or Derived Tags functionality?
  2. If yes, please provide the exact, valid expression syntax and step-by-step configuration instructions to extract the third field between the second and third | delimiters.
  3. What should the destination tag's data type be if I need the extracted result as a numeric value rather than a string?
  4. If this functionality is not supported by Derived Tags, what is the recommended supported method using the features available in KEPServerEX 6.18?
  5. Is there any built-in feature, driver, plug-in, or licensing requirement that would allow this extraction to happen entirely within Kepware, without an external application or script?

Expected result:

Input: 123|Temperature|25.6|°C

Output: 25.6

My requirement is to extract the value reliably from the incoming OPC UA string and expose it as a separate Kepware tag.
 

Please provide a working example or a supported configuration procedure specific to KEPServerEX 6.18.

Thank you.

1 reply

MKhatriCommunity Manager
Support
Oct 22, 2026 6:36 PM UTC

Greetings!

 

Hope this email finds you well!
Sorry for the late reponse.

Based on the information provided, KEPServerEX 6.18 does not have a built-in feature in Derived Tags or Advanced Tags to parse a delimited string and extract a specific field (such as the third value between | delimiters).

Answers to your questions:

  1. No, Derived Tags and Advanced Tags do not provide string-splitting or substring extraction functions for this use case.
  2. Not applicable, as there is no supported expression syntax available to extract the third field from a delimited string.
  3. If the value can be extracted externally, the destination tag should be configured as a Float or Double data type for a numeric result such as 25.6.
  4. The recommended method is to perform the string parsing in the OPC UA client, PLC, application layer, or another external process before sending the value to KEPServerEX.
  5. No additional Kepware plug-in or built-in feature currently provides this functionality entirely within KEPServerEX.

Example:

  • Input: 123|Temperature|25.6|°C
  • Desired Output: 25.6

This extraction would need to be performed outside of KEPServerEX and then exposed as a separate numeric tag.

Regards,
Mohit

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